The World of Kitsch

Everyone with eyes surely must have seen this year's Christmas advert offering from Sainsburys by now. The nostalgic feast of a mini-movie with our childhood friend Mog the Cat brought to life, and as ever finding herself in mischief.

If you haven't seen the ad yourself, get on YouTube & give yourself a treat. It's had 13 MILLION views since it launched 8 days ago.

But if you haven't seen it then anyone with ears surely must have HEARD about the resulting Mog-mania, and stores across the country selling straight out of plush Mogs the same day they come in stock.

You can order and buy the Christmas Calamity Mog book online for just £3, with the majority of that going to charity to help child literacy in the UK. You can't however get your paws on the plush Mog toys on the website. They are like gold dust. Some eBay sellers are stocking them with prices between £30 and £100. Considering the toy is sold for charity, and that these bulk buyers are taking away the chance of a child buying a £10 toy instore, I can't help but feel quite cross and hoping these folks end up with coal in their stockings from Santa this year.

I was thrilled to be able to get the Mog book in Sainsburys in Bangor NI last week. I think there were four or five copies left, so I was lucky. They had zero plush toys though. I took a notion to phone them this morning to ask the questions they must answer a hundred times a day, "when is your next batch of Mog toys due in stock?". They told me they don't think they'll get another shipment at all. So I tried Sprucefield, who said no, but they thought Forestside & Holywood had some arriving today.

I phoned, then dashed up in the car to Holywood and got THE LAST MOG. Smix is over the moon (& so am I). So my suggested Mog obtaining strategy is phone around stores. If you're quick today, the Holywood store still had a large number of the books, but I imagine they'll be gone by tomorrow too. Good luck!